An unfortunate error from the Stellar Blade studio created controversy just before the official launch on PS5. Sony reacted urgently with words and concrete action.
Stellar Blade is arriving exclusively on PS5 this Friday, April 26, 2024. The press tests, including that of Gameblog, were published when the embargo was lifted a few hours ago and are therefore available. For us, it’s a nice 8/10 which corresponds to “Very good”. An action game that beats enough to deserve your attention, but which falls short in terms of rhythm or even the hyper sexualization of its heroine. A controversial subject to which we return with a more detailed opinion. But another point sparked strong reactions as soon as the tests were put online.
A disaster patch for a racist tag in Stellar Blade
Stellar Blade will be available at midnight on the PlayStation Store, but perhaps some of you were able to obtain the physical version before the big day. In both cases, good luck to you in advance! As soon as the tests were published, a controversy broke out after the sharing of a capture by modder Lance McDonald. An Internet user known for all his discoveries on FromSoftware productions like Elden Ring or Bloodborne.
What ignited the powder was the presence of a “Hard R (Shop)” tag on one of the walls of a Stellar Blade environment. What exactly is the problem? This is a racist reference which refers to the insult “Nigger”. A word obviously steeped in history and which is not just a banal insult. And this term is pronounced with particular emphasis on the final R. A “hard R” and that’s what the “Hard R” refers to.
Very quickly, a Sony spokesperson contacted our colleagues at IGN. According to him, this was not intentional and he promised that it would be fixed with the day one patch. “The placement of two graphic arts next to each other in Stellar Blade resulted in an unintentional objectionable phrase. Shift Up never intended to create offensive artwork and will replace the graffiti with the day one update » (via IGN). Shift Up and Sony have been very responsive since a patch is already available for Stellar Blade. In the photo shared by Kotaku, we can see that the “Hard R” graffiti has been erased in favor of “Crime R”.
